Week 6 in college football is absolutely loaded with marquee games, including No. 4 Penn State heading on the road to battle No. 3 Iowa in the most important Big Ten game of the year. Both teams enter undefeated and coming off convincing wins over conference foes.
Elsewhere, No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 21 Texas will tee it up in Dallas in the Red River Rivalry, No. 2 Georgia will head to the Plains to take on No. 18 Auburn on CBS and No. 1 Alabama will travel to Kyle Field to take on Texas A&M in the second game of the SEC on CBS doubleheader.
Let’s take a look at how the oddsmakers at Caesars Sportsbook feel about the upcoming week of college football.
No. 4 Penn State at No. 3 Iowa (-2.5): Generally speaking, home teams in major college football get three points just for playing in their own stadiums. That makes this game between the Nittany Lions and Hawkeyes essentially even, which is exactly where it should be heading into their showdown in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes are coming off a big win at Maryland, while the Nittany Lions throttled Indiana on Saturday night.
No. 2 Georgia (-14.5) at No. 18 Auburn: The Bulldogs haven’t allowed a point in two games and are fresh off of a top-10 win over Arkansas. They do have some quarterback questions, considering Stetson Bennett IV got the start last week in place of JT Daniels, but that hasn’t seemed to matter thus far. Auburn topped LSU in Baton Rouge for the first time since 1999 on the heels of a magical performance from quarterback Bo Nix, who will have his hands full this weekend against the stout Bulldogs defense.
No. 1 Alabama (-17) at Texas A&M: This was pegged as on of the biggest games of the year when we all got together at SEC Media Days in July, but the Aggies haven’t lived up to their end of the bargain. They got upset at home by Mississippi State last week and have an offense that simply can’t move the football on a consistent basis. It will take a monumental effort for the Aggies to get back on track against the Crimson Tide.
No. 6 Oklahoma (-3.5) vs. No. 21 Texas: It hasn’t been pretty for the Sooners for the majority of this season, but things seemed to click last weekend against Kansas State. Quarterback Spencer Rattler was briefly benched in the win over Texas last year and will certainly want redemption against a Longhorns team that can prove that it’s a legit conference title contender with the upset.
No. 13 Arkansas at No. 17 Ole Miss (-4): This will be the battle of the hangover, as both of these teams got smoked on the road by fellow SEC squads. Will the Rebels force the Razorbacks into a shootout, or can the Hogs force coach Lane Kiffin’s squad to play old-school, smashmouth football? Your opinion will likely determine which team you’re going to invest in when they tee it up at high noon.
Best of the rest
- Thursday: No. 15 Coastal Carolina (-18) at Arkansas State
- Friday: Temple at No. 5 Cincinnati (-28.5)
- Maryland at No. 7 Ohio State (-19.5)
- No. 9 Michigan (-3) at Nebraska
- Boise State at No. 10 BYU (-3.5)
- No. 11 Michigan State (-4) at Rutgers
- No. 14 Notre Dame (-3) at Virginia Tech
- LSU at No. 16 Kentucky (-3.5)
- No. 19 Wake Forest (-7) at Syracuse
- Vanderbilt at No. 20 Florida (-38)
- No. 24 SMU (-14.5) at Navy
- New Mexico at No. 25 San Diego State (-18)
